Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

Seeing that Liu Guangfu had gone to call the police, everyone started chatting since they had to wait for a while.

"Our courtyard has been peaceful for a while, but who knew that the theft of roast duck would happen again."

"That's right. I thought I could still compete for the advanced courtyard this year, but it seems that my chances are gone again."

"Who do you think did this?"

"Of course I don't believe you don't know what's going on."

"Hehe, that's true, a dog will always eat shit!"

The Jiaodaokou Police Station, which has jurisdiction over this area, is not far from the courtyard. Everyone waited for about ten minutes before Liu Guangfu walked in with several police officers on duty.

When Xu Damao saw the person coming, hey, hey, he not only knew him but also knew him very well.

"Brother Wang, I'm really sorry to bother you today. I have to ask you to come here in person."

"Brother Damao, what are you talking about? If a serious theft occurs in our jurisdiction, we will definitely intervene," said Wang Yanbing.

"Okay, here's what happened... We just held a meeting of the entire institute, but no one came forward to admit it." Xu Damao repeated what happened yesterday.

"Then please wait for a moment, we will ask you some questions later. Now we need to go to the scene to check the situation." Director Wang said.

"Then let's go to the scene first." Xu Damao said and led the way, and Director Wang and several police officers quickly followed.

Several people soon arrived at Xu Damao's house. Xu Damao pointed to the top of the cupboard and said, "I put the duck there after get off work yesterday. I went to bed straight after drinking last night. When I woke up for dinner in the morning, I found that the roast duck was gone."

Director Wang looked at the height of the cupboard and it was obviously out of reach for a child. Could it be that an adult committed the crime or did the child use something to help?

Then his eyes fell on the stool next to the table, and after looking at it carefully for a while, he indeed discovered something.

"Da Mao, where did you sit to eat this morning? Is there anyone else at home?"

"I have been sitting there eating. My wife is pregnant and has been staying at her parents' home recently and has not come back." Xu Damao said, pointing to a stool facing south.

"Look here, this stool has obvious signs of being moved. If it wasn't moved by you, then it could only have been moved by a thief. So the thief should be a child who moved the stool because he was not tall enough." Director Wang analyzed.

"Amazing! This professional is extraordinary. He found the clue right away." Xu Damao praised.

"No, no, we just have more experience and are more experienced in handling cases. It's all thanks to you that you didn't clean the floor properly, otherwise there would be no traces left on the ground." Director Wang said.

Xu Damao complained in his heart, are you praising me or insulting me?

"Okay, you guys check carefully to see if there are any clues. I'll go outside to take a look." After Director Wang finished speaking, he walked out of the house, took out a cigarette, gave one to Xu Damao, and lit one for himself.

Director Wang looked at the window carefully, but there was no sign that it had been pried open. However, he did find a shallow footprint under the windowsill.

Following the clues, Director Wang found a series of footprints directly under the south corner of the wall. Since there are few people walking around here and it rained a few days ago, the ground is relatively soft, so the footprints are relatively clear.

"This must have been done by a child. Judging from the size of the footprints, the child is probably no older than ten years old. Are there many children of this age in the yard?" Wang Yanbing asked Xu Damao, pointing at the footprints on the ground.

"Not many, just five or six," said Xu Damao.

"Chief, we looked around and found nothing special in the room." At this time, several police officers who had stayed in the room just now also came over.

"Look, this set of footprints was most likely left by the suspect, starting from the hanging flower gate along the wall to under the window." Chief Wang pointed at the footprints and said to several police officers.

Several police officers listened to the chief's analysis and found it very reasonable. They felt that the chief was worthy of his title and his ability to solve cases was no exaggeration.

"Let's go to the Central Court and ask everyone to gather all the children between five and ten years old and question them." After Director Wang said this, he took the lead and walked towards the Central Court.

The police officers responded immediately and returned to the Intermediate Court with the director.

When everyone in the courtyard saw the police officers coming back, they stopped chatting and waited for them to announce the results of the investigation.

"Director Wang, how's the investigation going?" Yan Bugui came up and asked.

"It's certain that the item was stolen by a child. Next, please call all the children between five and ten years old in the courtyard over so we can investigate." Director Wang said politely.

"Okay, I'll notify everyone right away." Yan Bugui walked to the center of the courtyard and said loudly, "All the children between five and ten years old in the courtyard, bring them here. The public security comrades have found clues, and they need to conduct a final investigation to determine who stole it. Jie Kuang, Jie Di, you two come here too."

When the two brothers heard their father calling their names, they came up and stood beside him. Other children of the same age were brought over by their parents. However, Jia's Banggeng looked unhappy and hesitated to come forward.

Qin Huairu noticed that Bang Geng was acting strange, so she asked quietly, "Mom, what did you do when you went out yesterday? Did you steal the roast duck from Xu Damao's house?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Yesterday I took Banggeng out for a walk. How could I steal the roast duck?" Jia Zhang was still stubborn and refused to admit it.

Seeing this, Qin Huairu had no choice but to pull Banggeng over and said, "Banggeng, tell me the truth, did you steal it?"

"Wow, wow, I don't want to go to jail like my grandma." Banggeng was so scared that he started crying.

Banggeng's crying quickly attracted everyone's attention, but Director Wang decided to complete the process first and continued to ask what he had done from dinner to bedtime last night.

Yan Jiekuang said: "Last night, after dinner, our whole family sat in the front yard to enjoy the cool air. We saw Grandma Banggen taking Banggen out for a walk. Grandma Banggen was carrying a cloth bag. My dad said that he could tell with his dog nose that there was meat in it!"

"Ahem." Yan Bugui felt a little embarrassed by what his son said.

"Oh, Teacher Yan, how do you know that there is meat inside?" Director Wang asked.

"Hey, my nose is naturally sensitive. I'm particularly sensitive to smells, especially aromas. I can smell someone stewing meat in the front yard," Yan Bugui explained.

"Well, this is also a clue, the kid deserves praise!" Director Wang praised Yan Jiekuang, making the child very happy.

Soon the rest of the children were questioned. Some were out playing, and some were doing homework at home. However, these children did not show any guilt, so they were cleared of suspicion. Now the only one left was the crying child.

Director Wang asked the children to disperse first, then walked over to Bang Geng who was still crying and asked, "Little boy, what's your name? Why are you crying?"

It was fine when he didn't talk, but when he started talking, he started crying even harder. After all, he was only six or seven years old, and after hearing his grandmother talk about her experience in prison, he had a natural fear of prison and the police.

"I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to go to jail. It was my grandma who asked me to go. Wuuuu, Mom, grandma, please save me. I'm going to be arrested by the police! Wuuuu!" Banggeng cried until he was hoarse.

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The child was still a child after all. He told everything before anyone even asked him any questions.